Alan Toltzis

Happiness

Their house filled
with dither and din,
misheard repetition,
and misrepresentation

as if they were on
some plaintive search
for a key
when

she remembered hers
—buried deep in her pocketbook
and he reclaimed his
—from the right-hand corner of the mantle—

just where they put them (for safekeeping)
every day for 65 years.

Alan Toltzis (alantoltzis.com), the author of The Last Commandment, lives in Bucks County but likes Los Angeles more.